Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday promised the Centre will “not touch” Constitution’s Article 371, which grants special status to northeastern states to preserve their tribal culture, and said that no illegal immigrant would be allowed to stay in the region.
He said there were attempts to “misinform and misguide” the people of the northeast that the Centre will scrap Article 371 after it abrogated Article 370 to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status on August 5.
“I have clarified in Parliament that this is not going to happen and I am saying it again today in the presence of eight chief ministers of the northeast that both the articles are different and the Centre will not touch Article 371,” Shah said in his inaugural address at the 68th plenary session of the North East Council (NEC) in Guwahati.
Shah said the Constituent Assembly framed Article 370 as a temporary provision. He added Article 371 is about special provisions in the northeast and there is a vast difference between the two. “I think it is important to clarify the difference between the two. Let me make it clear that the Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] and the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] government respect Article 371 and 371 (A),” he said.
According to Article 371(A, no act of Parliament shall apply to Nagaland in respect of the religious or social practices of the Nagas, its customary law, and procedure, administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law and ownership and transfer of land and its resources.
Shah said there was an attempt to give a wrong message that the BJP-led government would scrap Article 371. He blamed people, who did not want peace in the northeast or the region to become an engine of development, for conveying the wrong message.
He referred to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said questions were being raised about it. “…the BJP-led government is committed to ensuring that not a single illegal immigrant enters the region,” he said.
Around two million people were left out of NRC, which was released on August 31 as part of an exercise to check illegal immigration from Bangladesh.
Shah said there has been a “drastic decline” in terrorism and militant activities under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule. “I do not want to quote statistics but the entire country and the world know that we have been able to control it,” he said.
He added there were still misguided people involved in armed activities. “But our minds are open and hands stretched for those who want to lay down arms. For those who want to continue, the governments at the Centre and the state will follow a zero-tolerance policy.” He said the misguided people, who take up arms, “are our own but are tools in the hands of vested foreign forces.”
He called border disputes between the northeastern states a major issue. “If India-Bangladesh border dispute can be resolved, why not disputes among our states in the region?”
He said Modi has given top priority to the region’s development and added he was the first PM in 40 years to attend an NEC meeting in Shillong. “No Congress Prime Minister attended an NEC meeting and though I do not want to make a political statement but among all the eight CMs present at the meeting, none is from the Congress but all are North-East Democratic Alliance constituents.”
Congress leader Debabrata Saikia accused the BJP of creating hype without doing anything concrete. “It has been reported that during BJP’s rule, allotted funds for NEC have not been released completely. Most development work in the northeast is due to Congress’s contribution.”
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